The present invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for using ozone to provide at least one of a sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing, application to an object or product, and more particularly for a method and apparatus for providing and containing a sanitizing agent comprising ozone gas in a structure and then transferring the sanitizing agent from the structure to an object or product and wrapping and/or packaging the object or product to prolong the at least one of sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing, effect thereto.
Objects or products such as perishable food products, including meats, poultry, fish, fruits, and vegetables, or objects such as medical devices and instruments, or other objects such as human or animal body parts that may comprise cuts or wounds or are otherwise subject to infection or contamination by micro-organisms, viruses, and pathogens, typically require hygienic and sanitary conditions to be properly handled and/or used. These types of objects, and other similar types of objects, are generally susceptible to contamination from micro-organisms such as bacteria, and from viruses, pathogens, and from other similar unsanitary contaminants. These objects are regularly subject to environmental exposure to contaminants such as micro-organisms, viruses, and other such contaminants thereby degrading sanitary and hygienic conditions for the objects.
Food products, for example, can seriously degrade in shelf life and can be dangerous for consumption under unsanitary states. Medical devices and instruments are likewise subject to contamination from many sources and can cause serious harm if used in unsanitary conditions. Cuts and wounds and other conditions of the body of animals and humans are similarly susceptible to external biological contaminants and micro-organisms and pathogens under unsanitary conditions which can cause infection, disease and other serious consequences if left unattended.
In the past, attempts to sanitize these types of objects have generally included washing and cleansing an object and then packaging and/or wrapping the object, which normally took place in special clean processing facilities. However, it is not always feasible or desirable to set up significant special facilities to sanitize such objects to desirable levels. For example, it may be desirable to package and/or wrap a food product at a convenient location where no special facilities are normally available such as at an office, a home, or even outdoors. Similarly, it may be desirable to package and/or wrap a medical device or instrument with no special medical cleansing facility being available or desirable for sanitizing the medical instrument before a subsequent use. Likewise, a wound or cut may occur at a location where no special facilities are available for providing sanitizing agents and cleansing facility to help clean and sanitize a cut or wound. Under these types of conditions it is very desirable to have a portable readily available method and apparatus for packaging or wrapping that can quickly and efficiently sanitize at least the surface of an object and then additionally, preferably package and/or cover the surface to maintain and prolong sanitary conditions for the object for an extended period of time.
Most commonly, a special handling and processing facility is required to provide a sanitizing agent to an object either 1) prior to packaging and wrapping, or 2) subsequently to being packaged and/or wrapped then introducing a sanitizing agent through special handling and processing. Accordingly, there is a need for such sanitizing from the packaging and/or wrapping of objects which is not available in the known prior art.
With respect to perishable food products, such as meat, poultry, or fish, such products are normally packaged and re-packaged for subsequent use or distribution where at each stage of unpacking and re-packaging there is potential for introduction of contaminants, such as micro-organisms and viruses, and other pathogens, such as from E-coli and listeria contamination, that can harm humans as well as seriously degrade the shelf life, increase perishability, and detrimentally impact human consumability, of such food products. The normal handling conditions at the different stages of product distribution, ultimately to handling by an end user, and further the re-packaging at each one of the stages, causes additional risk for contamination of such food products.
Food products, therefore, can include contaminants such as micro-organisms and viruses. These contaminants can include, but are not limited to, bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, mildew, and a variety of viruses. E-coli and listeria are pathogens that have gained much attention in the news where humans have been made sick and injured and have died as a result of contamination of food and water. Many of these types of contaminants can increase a rate of spoilage and reduce shelf life of food products as well as provide serious health hazards to humans that consume or come in contact with such products. Commonly, these contaminants are introduced to the surfaces of food products during processing, handling, and distribution.
Modern methods of packaging and cleaning food products, typically employed at food processing plants and factories, can reduce hazardous contaminants, such as micro-organisms, that can contaminate the surfaces of food products. These processing and packaging techniques include thermal processing, washing food products with chlorinated water, irradiation of food products, vacuum sealing packaging, low temperature storage, modified atmosphere packaging (or MAP), active packaging, and certain techniques for clean handling and packaging. Additionally, ozone bubbled in water has been used to wash and thereby disinfect chickens and other such food products and associated food processing plants and such specialized food handling environments. Ozone in such aqueous solution has been generally regarded as safe for use with the food supply. For example, most people are familiar with ozonated drinking water. However, these processes and techniques discussed above typically must be applied under strictly controlled environments in a processing plant and factory and usually employing special equipment and handling.
These specialized requirements for packaging such food products, although helpful in reducing contamination and enhancing shelf life of products, are generally expensive and only available in special environments such as in food processing plants and factories. Further, when the packaging is removed at a later point in a distribution channel and the food product is re-packaged for further distribution or for consumption at a later time, new contamination can typically be introduced to the food products thereby losing some if not most of the beneficial effects of the earlier clean handling and packaging at the factory. This subsequent re-packaging and handling normally does not benefit from special equipment and ultra-clean environment to re-package the food products with heightened sanitary conditions as in a food processing plant and factory.
In medical applications, where medical equipment and instruments need to be sanitized, unfortunately, conventional specialized equipment must be used to sanitize and disinfect the equipment or instruments to a satisfactory level, or possibly sterilize as necessary, for further use. This specialized equipment is usually expensive and the process for sanitizing, disinfecting, and/or sterilizing, tends to be time consuming significantly impacting the costs of medical services and the commercial viability of medical businesses. Additionally, this specialized equipment and processing is normally not generally available in all but specialized environments.
Furthermore, in treating wounds, cuts, and other medical conditions for patients normally bandaging or wrapping is complemented with a cleansing process and an application of a sanitizing and disinfecting agent to a surface of a patient. These multiple steps and different materials used to sanitize and disinfect and/or wrap or cover a patient""s surface wound or cut, or other surface treated medical conditions, require two or more different medical devices and supplies, such as medical creams, ointments, or liquids, for disinfecting and sanitizing applications, and usually including wiping, wrapping, and/or bandaging of patient surfaces. Besides the increase in logistics and storage requirements, to maintain such supplies and equipment, and the associated expense, these supplies and equipment for treating patients may not always be collectively available to provide medical services and to disinfect and sanitize surfaces of patients.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus to eliminate those specific disadvantages of the prior art as discussed above, and particularly to provide a wiping, wrapping, and/or packaging structure and method for sanitizing, disinfecting, and sterilizing, objects or products.